Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Teach Your Child to Read--Beginning Reader Books


Today I am finishing up my series on teaching your child to read. If you are just tuning in, you can catch the first three posts here, here, and here. (And, get excited, because there is still a post coming entitled 'Everything your child should know before he enters Kindergarten,' with tips from a real life Kindergarten teacher!)

I've had a few friends ask for suggestions on the best books to use with beginning readers. I'll share my favorite two resources today, but feel free to chime in with any of yours.

1. Starfall. I already mentioned Starfall as a great website for kids to learn reading skills. I know a lot of you have started using Starfall for the learning games and are loving it. But have you started printing our their free books yet? They are all here, in order from easiest to hardest. I just print them out, cut, and staple the pages together, making a card stock cover. Awesome. (And free.)

2. Bob Books. All gajillion (I've seriously lost count) of my nieces and nephews have read and loved these. There are several different box sets available, again, beginning with the easiest and advancing from there. Blaine can't wait to get his first box. I've heard sometimes you can score them at Costco. For now, I think I'm going to go with Amazon. Check them out here.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

As a mom to two busy boys, any and all suggestions to encourage them to read more is appreciated.
thanks!

jeanine said...

Thanks Anne! I'm anxiously awaiting the Kindergarten post!

Katie said...

excellent books.
on a side note, where or what brand is the alphabet picture set from? i love it!

Christina said...

We didn't have much success with Bob books at our house, but we have loved a lot of Cynthia Rylant's books like the Henry and Mudge series and the Mr. Putter series. We also liked Kate DiCamillo's Mercy Watson series.

Bloom said...

Katie,

They are Eric Carle flashcards. Aren't they darling?! I found them for you on amazon. Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Eric-Carle-Animal-Flash-Cards/dp/0811852563/ref=sr_1_1/184-2175424-2521255?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280964978&sr=8-1

Rachel said...

We love Starfall, but I haven't printed off the books yet. I'll have to start doing that now. And, we absolutely LOVE the BOB books. My daughter feels so accomplished after she's read one of them!

Vicky said...

We've used "Key words with Peter & Jane". Not sure if they are availabel in the States but here the amazon UK link

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Key-Words-1a-Play-us/dp/1409301117/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281009163&sr=1-10

Thay have nice, simple and repetive words so that children learn the most frequently used words. and the vintage illustrations are nice too.

House of Estrogen said...

I'm a big fan of Starfall here too. For a book set though, I prefer the "Playful Pals Now I'm Reading Set" over the BOB books. I like the stories better, the books come in a nice outer shell with a velcro closure that keeps them all together than those BOB boxes, and they come with stickers which have been a GREAT incentive for my daughter.

http://www.amazon.com/Now-Reading-Playful-Pals-Level/dp/1584762039